The St. Mary’s County Board of Commissioners and the Patuxtent Tidewater Land Trust are pleased to announce that the State has awarded FY2007 Rural Legacy Program Grant Funding to St. Mary’s County in the amount of $1.5 million. This is the second round of state funding awarded in this amount for the Mattapany Rural Legacy Area.
“We are pleased to receive this level of funding for the second year in a row so that we are able to continue preserving thousands of acres of land along the Chesapeake Bay, south of the Patuxent River Naval Air Station,” said Thomas F. McKay, President, Board of County Commissioners. “These funds allow us to protect the environmental integrity of our farms, woodlands and rivers as well as the Chesapeake Bay.”
Governor Robert L. Ehrlich awarded Rural Legacy funding to several Counties at a ceremony in Baltimore County on Monday, September 18, 2006. The Rural Legacy Program, part of Maryland’s Smart Growth Initiatives, encourages local governments and private land trusts to identify Rural Legacy Areas and to competitively apply for funds to complement existing land preservation efforts or to develop new ones.